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THE ACCESSION OF TARTARY.

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of China became lords of all within the wall and the ocean, and extended their influence from the desert to the eastern sea.

Having thus far progressed, China was soon enabled to enlarge her territories by that which generally cir cumscribes dominion. She spread, not by conquering, but by being conquered. For many ages, the effeminate Chinese had been exposed to the incursions of the Tartar hordes, which infested their northern border. To keep out these, the great wall was built, but built in vain. First, under the Monguls, and, subsequently, under the Manchows, the Tartar race invaded the territory, and ascended the throne of China. In this, however, the superiority of knowledge over ignorance-of civilization over barbarism-has been apparent. Mencius, a Chinese philosopher, who flourished before the Christian era, has a passage in his works to the following effect: "I have heard of barbarians being improved by the Chinese, but I never heard of the Chinese being improved by barbarians." Thus the Tartars, after subjugating China, instead of altering its institutions, and changing its maxims of government, conformed themselves to the customs and laws already existing in the country, and were, in fact, subdued by the Chinese: while China remained what China was, having only changed its rulers, and gained a great accession of territory.

The modern empire of China assumes a peculiar interest and importance, on account of the extent of its territory. In addition to China Proper, which, with its eighteen rich and fertile provinces, each of them equal in extent and population to some European kingdoms,

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PRESENT EXTENT.

covers an area of 1,298,000 square miles, the empire is now swelled by the annexation of Chinese Tartary, a thinly peopled, but outstretched region, extending from the sea of Ochotsk, on the east, to Bukaria, on the west; and from the Altay and Nershink mountains on the north, to the great wall, on the south.

The power of China is strengthened, by having Thibet on the one hand, and Corea and Loo-Choo on the other, almost entirely subject to its influence; while its importance, in the eyes of eastern nations, is augmented by claiming to include Cochin-China, Camboja, Burmah, and Siam, among its tributary kingdoms. What an enormous and overgrown dominion is thus presented before us, extending over thirty-five degrees of latitude and seventy of longitude, and covering an area of upwards of 3,000,000 square miles.

The Chinese empire occupies no inconsiderable space in our map of the earth's surface, and fills up nearly the whole of their own; no wonder, then, that the Chinese should consider their country as the middle kingdom, including all within the four seas; and that, with them, the world and their empire should be synonymous terms. It is true, that a great part of these territories are uninhabitable deserts, and Chinese Tartary may have only four inhabitants to a square mile; yet the government of that country extends an influence over nearly as much of the earth's surface, and more of its population, than either England or Russia, and makes its orders heard and obeyed from Peking to E-le, and from the capital to Canton, amongst several hundred millions of people. By its new accessions of territory,

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China has come into the neighbourhood of the British possessions; and, though originally so distant from us, seems to shake hands across the Himlaya mountains, — and invite western nations to publish amongst them, the glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

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CHAPTER II.

PROBABLE POPULATION.

THE QUESTION OF POPULATION INTERESTING TO THE PHILOSOPHER, THE POLITICIAN, THE MERCHANT, AND THE CHRISTIAN-THE POSSIBILITY AND PROBABILITY OF A LARGE POPULATION ARGUED FROM THE FERTILITY OF THE SOIL-THE EXTENSIVENESS OF THE CULTIVATION — THE PAUCITY OF THE ROADS-THE MANNER OF DISPOSING OF THE DEAD-THE ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN TO AGRICULTURE-THE INDUSTRY OF THE INHABITANTS-THE SKILL OF THE HUSBANDMAN-THE ECONOMY IN FOOD, DRESS, AND DWELLINGS-CONTRASTED WITH THE SCARCITY OF PROVISIONS AND WANT OF FEELING. EMIGRATION, WITH ITS DIFFICULTIES-BOUNTY ON THE IMPORTATION OF RICE-INFANTICIDE-ITS PREVALENCE-FOUNDLING HOSPITALS-CONCLUSION.

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SCARCELY any thing has been the subject of so much controversy, and at the same time of so much interest, relative to China, as the number of its population. The philosopher, the politician, the merchant, and the Christian are alike concerned to know, how many individuals are congregated together in that immense empire, and what is the rate of increase of its inhabitants. The population of China has formed the basis of numerous hypotheses among those who treat of the wealth or poverty of nations, and its exceeding populousness has been assumed or denied, according as different writers have sought to establish various propositions relative to the rapid or slow growth of the human family; and in proportion to the amount of their fears lest the increase of population should entrench upon the means of subsistence and produce an extensive and insupportable

DIFFERENT HYPOTHESES.

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The

famine. The Malthusites have caught at the fact, that China, already over peopled, is yet increasing in population and is doubling the number of its inhabitants every twenty-five years; which, connected with the circumstance of the scarcity and misery which already prevail, have led them to form the most gloomy apprehensions for the future, and to discourage marriage and encourage wars, lest the world should, like China, become overstocked, and universal want and misery envelope and engulph the whole family of man. anti-Malthusites, on the other hand, shocked at this dreadful picture, and still more alarming prospect, have greedily embraced the suggestion thrown out by some writers, that the population of China has been exaggerated; and finding different returns given by variousauthors, have argued that the subject is questionable and undecided; then taking the lowest census they can find, they have come boldly forward and declared that China is one of the most thinly peopled countries of the globe, that her soil is not one tenth part cultivated, and that her peasantry and mechanics are enjoying an ease and luxury, devoid of all appearance of want or penury, unknown and unequalled in any other part of the world. These extreme differences of opinion, established as they both appear to be by irrefragable arguments, tend to perplex the enquirer; but we must remember that the advocates of opposing systems generally go to extremes in defence of their favourite propositions; and that the truth usually lies between the two, to be. elicited only by a dispassionate research, and an unprejudiced mind; determined to judge according to the evidence adduced, independent of previously existing opinions.

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